31 Jan: First day in Melbourne. Dressed inappropriately in shorts and a t shirt I went to explore Melbourne. It then started to pour rain! Melbourne is a fantastic city for a tourist. Everything is free!! I first hopped on the free city tourist tram to federation square, the heart of the city. I organised my great ocean road trip in the tourist office before hopping on the free tourist city bus which in 13 stops showed tourists the highlight of the city. Stops included Melbourne cricket ground, the new docklands area, Melbourne museum and Imax, the university, the Italian quarter, china town, the greek precinct, queen Victoria market and a lot more. Queen Victoria market is the largest market in the city and I couldn't help myself from spending a few hours browsing the souvenirs, ugg boots, clothes, wine market, cheese hall, fruit stalls and gourmet food market. Had a great day exploring the city.

1 Feb: Great ocean road tour. Had a fantastic day seeing kangaroos, koalas, parrots, snakes, cockatoos, lighthouses, sea, sand and fantastic scenery. I did my tour with wombat escapes adventures (plug!) and had free tea and biscuits all day! Chris our guide was great and went out his way to ensure we saw some of the coolest sights along the great ocean road. We made numerous stops along the way looking out over different view points, animal spotting, rainforest walks, movie location spotting and a fabulous lunch in the rainforest. The highlight of the trip was the fantastic scenery when we reached the twelve apostles, a number of limestone rock formations in the ocean. Great day.

2 Feb: My first stop of the day was to meet up with Jonathan who was on part of my south American trip. He moved to Melbourne after his travels and is now head barista in a lovely café in the centre of the city. Had a lovely chat and tea with Jonathan and was nice to meet up after our travels. I then made my way to St. Kilda for lunch, a lovely suburb of Melbourne with numerous parks and a man made beach. After relaxing for a while I made my way back to town to meet Fergus McCarthy for some after work drinks. Fergus was in great form and looking fab! Our first stop was an Asian bar where we met up with some of his Irish and English friends for $1 champagne for the girls! His friends were lovely and we had loads of fun out on the deck, in the sun, sipping champagne! Fergus is trying to get into comedy and acting while here and so we headed out to St. Kilda to a comedy club where some of his friends were playing. Was a great night and the best thing about it was I found a new drink - bulmers, lime, raspberry and a drop of bitter. Delicious! There were a number of comedians playing but the best by far was an Irish guy! We met lots of other Irish at the gig. Apparently St. Kilda is where all the Irish hang out! Great night.

3 Feb: Up early for my flight to Cairns. The first thing that hit me when I arrived in Cairns was the heat and humidity. And then it started raining. Warm rain! After settling in at the hostel (Asylum), I made my way down to the city centre where I spent the afternoon organising and booking my tours for the rest of my time in Australia. Apparently I get a big discount but still broke the bank! There was a BBQ in the hostel that night which was fab and a great way to meet other guests.

4 Feb: Trip to Tjapukai the local aboriginal culture park. Was really looking forward to getting some culture and had already compared the experience to that at Tamaki in Rotorua but unfortunately I was very disappointed. The "experience" involved five shows none of which gave the viewer an understanding of aboriginal culture. The first introduction to their culture was a show where a guy played the didgeridoo. The other shows included boomerang throwing, spear throwing and local dance and music. As it was raining, a number of the shows were relocated and this may have had an impact on the poor performance. However I came away from the experience knowing nothing of any of the 500 aboriginal tribes which once populated Australia. Unlike the Maori cultural experience, I had no sense of how the arrival of the Europeans affected their lifestyle or how they adapted. There was also no talk of aboriginal life today. I felt that the "experience" was a very high level expensive show, which avoided some huge issues. I left bitterly disappointed.

5 Feb: Up early for my first diving experience. I took a cruise out on the great barrier reef and was a brilliant day. The weather, people, food, guides, snorkelling and diving were immense. I spent most of the day either snorkelling or diving on three different reefs and saw some amazing sights including different size and shapes of fish and coral. I had rented an underwater digital camera before the trip and got some great pictures. The trip also included a tour on a glass bottom boat where the guide gave us some history and information on the reef and the fish. Lunch was fresh meats and fish along with some amazing salads. But the dive was the highlight of the trip. I was diving for half an hour and got to see lots of different fish and corals and got to touch the sea bed. Will definitely dive again.

That night I headed out with two Danish girls from my hostel to the famous Wollshed for dinner. After dinner we headed to the night markets for a look at the bargains on offer. The girls got massages while I went and browsed the jewellery stalls. We headed back to the woolshed for Ladies night and who did I meet only Ami from my South America trip. Was great to see her and hear all about her travels. The party started early in the woolshed with the first game of the night - which Ami took part in. I won't go into details but it involved vibrators and blowing! Ami won a daytrip to Nimbin which she kindly offered to me. There was also dancing competitions throughout the night and all girls got five free glasses of champagne! Great night.

6 Feb: Spent the morning lounging at the pool by the sea in cairns before catching my bus for Mission Beach. Mission beach is a very quiet town set in the middle of a rainforest and beside a beautiful beach. However when I say quiet I mean quiet - there were no bars or restaurants open in the "town" and only one shop! However had a fantastic time at Mission Beach retreat. That evening I took a walk along the beach to the rainforest. The beach was beautiful and I was the only person on the whole beach - so romantic and idyllic. The walk through the rainforest and Chump National Park provided some much needed shade and was lovely to hear all the birds and animals. I didn't mind the butterflies and small lizards but about an hour into my walk I came across what I was sure was an alligator or crocodile or huge snake. This thing was massive and looked exactly like a huge alligator. I'm not sure who scarpered quicker when we saw each other, me or him! Anyway I ran the whole way back through the rainforest abandoning my walk, singing at the top of my lungs to ward off any other potential human eating monsters! I had arranged to meet the hostel owner to go view some wallabies and I told him of my encounter. He said it was more likely an iguana. They can grow up to 1.5 metres and are mostly harmless to humans. However once they feel threatened they need to find shelter - usually up a tree. Their eyesight is obviously as good as mine as they are known to start crawling up humans as they think the humans are trees! We went and saw some wallabies which are very like kangaroos only smaller. Very cute animals. That evening I sat with some of the guys who had done skydives that day and watched their videos, bringing back all the good memories of Lake Taupo!

7 Feb: Early bus to Townsville where I caught the ferry to Magnetic Island. My hostel was Bungalow Bay which is the home of the koala sanctuary. The hostel grounds include loads of trees, koalas and birds and animals as well as a lovely pool. Cool hostel! The birds are fed every day and hundreds of colourful parrots flock to the feeding ground. The sounds of all the animals surrounding the huts is cool and gives a true rainforest experience. I spent the evening at the beach before taking part in a quiz at the hostel. And our team did not come last so all good!!!

8 Feb: Took advantage of the free snorkelling gear and trekked to the other side of the island to reach the coral reef where decked out in my stinger suit I went snorkelling. Spent the day snorkelling, swimming in the sea and later lounging by the swimming pool and feeding the parrots before dinner and drinks at the hostel. It really is a hard life!!

9 Feb: Morning time on Magnetic island saw me trekking down to Geoffry Bay where I saw special rock wallabies. Cute but a little rat like! Took the ferry back to Townsville and had a relaxing night in Townsville with all the international students who had just arrived for the new college semester.

10 Feb: Bus to Airlie Beach and the start of a few great days! Airlie is a lovely town and as it was the weekend it had a great vibe to it. There is a lovely beach and park area as well as a lagoon at which to relax during the day. Jelly wrestling was the highlight of tonight's entertainment in Magnums. Fun spot.

11 Feb: Spent day at lagoon before checking in for my two day Whitsunday our on the Broomstick sailing boat. A few last minute purchases were necessary and lots of repacking before I was ready for the night. Met two lovely Danish girls and after sharing their goon with me (my first goon experience!!) we headed to the bar in magnums for the nights entertainment. Free pizza, free shots, free beer, free champagne, limbo competition, male stripper competition which featured some very short pants, a fireman and a backflipper! And to top the night off a wet t-shirt competition! After making friends with a few other lads we headed back to the dorm for a few goon drinking games. Great fun and great start to my whitsundays adventure.

12 Feb: Check in for the Broomstick was 1.00pm. It was a 25 bed sailing boat which was originally built for a race from Cape town to Rio where it came second. It competitively sailed for another six years before retiring and being modified to a tourist boat. Space was very cramped but with such a small number of passengers, we got to know each other very quickly! First stop was at caves cove where we had our first snorkelling experience. The conditions were perfect. It hadn't rained for nearly two weeks and visibility was amazing. The snorkelling was nearly better than Cairns. The colours and variety of fish and coral was amazing. We then sailed for a period and I had the chance to help put up the sails and we stopped at stone haven for the night. The sunset was out of this world. In the middle off the Great Barrier Reef surrounded by beautiful islands, crystal blue waters and on a sailing boat with lovely people watching the various yellows reds and oranges' of the sunset. Really was amazing. Dinner and all the food on board was exceptional. After dinner the cards came out as did the drinking games. Was a great way for everyone to bond and get to know each other. Was cool sitting on deck with a cold glass of goon, playing games looking at the stars. What was even cooler was seeing a shark at the back of our boat, circling a school of fish and eating the bigger fish. And it was a real shark with a big fin and jaws!

13 Feb: up early and on to mackerel Bay for our second snorkelling experience of the trip. Again was quite amazing. The water was warm and visibility great. As it was stinger season we were all in "sexy suits" to protect from the jelly fish stings, some of which can be dangerous. An early lunch and then more sailing to the highlight of the trip - Whitehaven Beach. We sailed to Tongue bay where we took a bush walk to a look out point where there were amazing views of Whitehaven beach. This beach is protected and has the purest sand in the world and is very valuable. To take any sand from this beach incurs a fine of over $10,000. The beach and sea was beautiful. We saw reef sharks and played Frisbee as well as chilling out. We sailed onto Hook passage and spotted a sea turtle on the way! This is where we docked for the night and had a lovely supper of BBQ steaks and salad. The cards came out again tonight as did the goon and the weird games that the crew had me involved in! Great night

14 Feb: Happy Valentines day! Morning snorkel in False Noura, my least favourite snorkelling spot but still cool. We even saw a massive lobster! Unfortunately that was the end of our Whitsundays tour and we sailed back to Whitsundays. The boat, sailing experience, people, food, snorkelling and beach were amazing and I would definitely recommend it.

After receiving my e valentine's card from G (which made me very happy!) a few of us from the boat spent the day at the lagoon. A poor girl passed out from the heat in the water and went unconscious a number of times but the lifeguards and ambulance crew did a great job and she was eventually ok. There was an after party for the Broomstick crew in downunder that night so went there for a few drinks before hopping on the overnight bus to Gladstone for my next outback experience!

15 Feb: Arrived in Gladstone at 8am and was met off the bus by a real life cowboy. Although in Aus they are called ringers. Cowboys is the American term! Andy the ringer was wearing a cowboy hat, jeans and cowboy boots (which he discarded before driving me in a pickup truck to the cattle ranch. All aussies drive barefoot). Kroombit, the cattle ranch where I was staying was a long way from the coast, in the bush and outback of east Australia. Andy was the perfect tour guide along the way although there wasn't much to see only the Australian bush. We passed a small town before arriving in Kroombit, a town which serviced the needs of the many miners in the area. Upon driving into the 10,000 acres of the ranch we were met by a mob of kangaroo. This was only the start of a few great days.

Lunch was served shortly after we arrived which consisted of BBQ beef steak (cooked on the open camp fire) and salad. I was the only guest for the night and the staff were so lovely immediately befriending me! After lunch I had a number of jobs to do! This involved me driving the pickup truck through the fields and dirt tracks on my own dropping supplies from one side of the ranch to the other!! Fun fun! Then I had to help herd the 160 horses into the stable yard. This involved me sitting on the back of Andy's motorbike as he sped around the fields at 100kmph herding up the horses. This was even more fun! And then it was time for the real outback experience.

We packed up a number of supplies for the night including food, water, alcohol and swags (outdoor sleeping bags) and I was introduced to my mode of transport for the next two days - Apache a lovely golden horse with a reputation for kicking out, running off, and jumping ditches and gates just cause he felt like it! I knew then it was a mistake to have circled the advanced experience box seeing as I hadn't ridden a horse properly in 10 years! Tacking up ringo style is different to at home. Saddles are secured not by girths with a buckle but by a girth secured by specialised western knots. The western saddle had knee pads that helped you stay on as you were herding the animals, and the bridal was no more than pieces of rope tied together. I was offered spurs. I declined.

We trekked over hills and creeks and streams and ditches, through the bush for nearly three hours spotting amazing wildlife along the way including endangered birds, wallabies and Goannas and set up camp at the top of a hill overlooking the ranch and bush. A number of the staff came with us as well for dinner and glad they did as would have been pretty lonely out there on my own!! We tied up the horses and untacked them and ensured they had enough water which we took from the water supply in place for the cattle. Andy started a camp fire from local leaves twigs and logs. This fire served as a mosquito repellent, cooker and heater. Dinner cooked over the fire on an iron plate consisted of steak, spuds and carrots as well as grilled cheese toasties for starters! After dinner we sat around the camp fire having a few drinks and telling ghost stories. It really was so much fun. That night after the staff drove home I took my swag and slept out alone under the stars beside the fire with the insects and snakes and pesky donkey that wouldn't leave me alone. It was scary and I got zero sleep but am so glad I did it.

16 Feb: Was a relief when morning came! Andy relit the fire and we made toast and tea before packing up, saddling up and heading back to basecamp. After a long shower I caught up on some sleep before lunch. I'm not sure the camping life is for me! A group were at the camp for the night so had some friends to hang out with for the afternoon! After lunch I went quad biking. Now I have been quad biking before this this experience was definitely the best. The dirt tracks were amazing. Full of twists and turns and hills and valleys, riding through rivers and mud pools. Again we saw lots of wildlife including an emu - my first in Australia. I was filthy but there was no point in changing before the nights activities.

Standing on the back of the pick up truck we headed to the shooting area and I tried my hand at clay pigeon shooting. My inability to wink hampered me significantly and my success rate was minimal! I've shot in the past but the backfire on this thing nearly took my arm off! Again lots of fun. After my failed shooting attempt I tried my hand at lassoing, which I was a little more successful at and I had no trouble in throwing my lasso over a stationery object. It was a little more difficult when it came to the goat rodeo and I was expected to lasso a live moving goat! About thirty Billys were in a goat pen and in teams of threes we had to lasso a goat over his horns, straddle the goat and firebrand this bum before pulling him by the horns out of the goat pen! You can imagine the chaos. Although my team didn't win it was still lots of fun.

We watched the sunset before heading back for bush nibbles (which turned out to be goat which was very nice - a little like beef!. Every day they kill a bush animal and cook it for the guests to sample) Dinner consisted of roast beef, veg, potatoes and gravy all prepared over a camp fire. The nights activities consisted of learning to crack a whip. Gordon be wary - I have the technique down to a fine art!! The noise is the sound of the whip breaking the sound barrier. Then a bit of bush dancing, which is just aussie line dancing with lots of country music and then a bit of mechanical bull riding which I was quite good at!! Great nights entertainment!

17 Feb: Morning by the pool and a bit of goat herding after lunch. We tacked up the horses again a large group of us went out to round up the goats for that evenings goat rodeo. We had to round up all 300 goats over three fields and herd them into the goat pens using only the horse and our voice as ammunition! That evenings activities were similar to the previous nights but was still lots of fun. I would definitely recommend a stay at kroombit to anyone who wants a bit of country fun with the added bonus of Keith Urban and Dollie Partan blasting out 24 hours a day!

18 Feb: Early morning start for a transfer to the bus to Harvey bay. Harvey Bay is one of the transit spots for Fraser Island. I was only making a quick stop here before travelling to rainbow beach the next day.

19 Feb: Arrive in Rainbow Beach - a tiny town with only one street but with a fun happy vibe about it. My safety briefing for driving on Fraser Island was after lunch and although I wasn't nervous before the briefing, I was petrified after it! The briefing detailed everything that could go wrong including killing yourself and others in the jeep, the high chances that the jeep will tumble over, the chance that the wild dingos will kill you or at least attack you and leave you severely maimed! That was before the mention of the dangerous rib tides, the killer sharks and the biting insects.

That evening we went on a bush walk to the carlo sandblow. This was once attached to Fraser Island and has the same characteristics as the sand on Frasers including the incredible colours of the sand including, white, black, red, yellow, pink and orange. These colours are all generated from the forests that once sat on the island before the trees were covered with sand. We threw some boomerangs and explored the sandblow before watching the spectacular sunset.

20 Feb: Up early and together with my group we collected our food and drink for the trip, ensured we had tents, table and enough cutlery for the trip. Clutch broken in our jeep so couldn't get it out of the driveway. After a quick sticky tape job we got it out and we were on our way to Fraser! After trying to figure out what to have for lunch from our vast array of food we drove to Lake Mckensie, a beautiful turquoise rain lake where we spent the afternoon swimming and sunbathing. We were back in time to set up camp (yes I did manage to put up my own tent!) and later I cooked dinner of chicken stirfry for the group. The goon came out and we retired to the beach where we spent the night getting to know everyone including the dingos and looking at the stars. Sleep came easily despite the uncomfortable camping ground.

21 Feb: After an early breakfast trying to avoid the flies I took to the wheel. Of course the clutch refused to work and getting the car into any gear was a challenge! We drove along the beach as well as some back trails over sand dunes and through small creeks to get to ely creek where we all got the chance to wash! Ely creek remains the same temperature all year round despite the surrounding weather. It is kind of like a lazy river and we lay on our back at the top of the creek and let the current take us down. We then drove onto the xxx shipwreck which was originally built in Scotland and spent many years ferrying travellers back and forth to New Zealand before being sold to the Japanese in WW2 and being shipwrecked due to bad winds. After lunch we drove to the champagne pools, rock pools where the saltwater bubbles and then headed to Indian head for our last stop of the day. Indian head is a large cliff where lots of wildlife can be spotted. We saw sea turtles and sting rays but unfortunately no sharks. But on the way back to camp we came across a man fishing in the sea who was after catching a shark. After an hour he was still struggling to reel the shark in even though it was only meters from the sea shore. Our stop with the shark man delayed us a bit and it got dark and a thunder and lightning storm struck. So we were driving back in the dark with no lights, pissing rain with inadequate wipers and thunder and lightning. I would lie if I said it wasn't a little frightening but it's all part of the experience. As we couldn't leave the cover of our tent we all had dinner together and played cards and finished the goon! The dingos were going mad as well with the storm and came right into our camp site. Sleep didn't come so easy tonight. Am maybe regretting signing up for a month long camping trip in rainy season in Africa!

22 Feb: After a fitful night wasn't sorry to be packing up our camp site which was surrounded by massive horse flies. We stopped at a resort for breakfast which was nice and fly free and even had a proper toilet of sorts - i.e it wasn't a hole in the ground! We then drove to lake wabbi and trekked for 2.5km to a lovely sandblow and down to lake wabbi - another rain water lake full of cat fish. It began to rain again but it was quite refreshing as we swam in the lake. Not so refreshing while we walked back. This ended our tour of Fraser and we then made our way back to Rainbow beach. Great trip and the driving on sand was cool! We all went for dinner and drinks in the hostel that night.

23 Feb: Another day of rain on the sunshine coast. Made my way to Noosa where I was staying in a camp site in the bush about a half hour from Noosa. This is a public campsite with retired people and welfare recipients sharing the facilities including toilets, showers, laundry and a small shop. I met some of them and their lives really did resemble soap operas. At least three of the old ugly men had been married to the same ugly woman. One of them was jealous of the current husband and had a shot jun in his tent which he was going to put to good use one day apparently!! Anyway there was a lovely lake here which was full of tea tree oil. It's a pity it was raining as there were lovely wildlife walks surrounding the park. That evening given the outback location I decided to try a traditional Australian feast of Kangaroo. Love kangaroo steak!

24 Feb: Spent the day in Noosa in the rain. Noosa is a small town but with lovely shops, restaurants and cafes. Arrived in Brisbane in the rain and Lorna very kindly met me at the bus station. We met her fiancé Stephen and their friend Matt and had a few drinks in their local before going to a lovely Chinese restaurant. Home to put a bit of make up on before heading out on an epic night in Brisbane! We started in the Royal Exchange, the spot where Stephen proposed to Lorna a few months before. There was a student toga party going on and I was in my element with all the guys in togas but the guys wanted out so we headed into town and went to two different Irish bars with a live band which was great fun. I then got refused from two bars as I only had my DL and not my passport with me (yes that's right I do look 18!) So the only place to go was the all night casino where we stayed till at least 6am after we won and then lost a fortune! We stopped for pancakes on the way home and fell into bed at breakfast time. Great night!

25 Feb: Not fit for much when we got up but Matt bbq'd some chorizo for brekkie which was lovely. We then headed into the pig and whistle bar where there was a night out for the Shamrock football team that Stephen and Matt play for. I headed off to catch my bus to Surfers and was very happy when I saw my bed that night.

26 Feb: Weather still not great so stayed away from the theme parks but had a stroll around Surfers paradise and the beach. There was a volleyball competition on at the beach which was cool. The girls really do wear very little. Surfers is full of skyscrapers and is the Vegas of the gold coast with hummers and neon lights lighting up the streets. It's a cool city with a relaxed vibe. A place I could definitely spend a few more days.

27 Feb: Bus to Byron Bay where I was staying in Byron Beach resort. First thing to note was the time change where I lost one hour. Byron was a smaller town than I imagined but a lovely town with little cafes shops and restaurants. I walked along the beach into town and passed many water sporters along the way including paraskiing, surfers and parasailors. Later I met Jonathan and Niamh (who were on my whitsundays tour) in the hostel so spent the evening watching movies with them!!

28 Feb: Spent the day walking to cape Byron and to the most easterly point of Australia. Beautiful weather views and walk. Spent a few hours in cheeky monkeys bar and restaurant with the coyote girls before getting an overnight bus to Sydney

29 Feb: Arrived early in Sydney in the pouring rain and to a weather forecast that said it would rain all weekend! Still had a lot of sightseeing to do so headed down to Sydney Harbour bridge and the opera house before meeting Ruth and heading back to her city centre apartment. Ruth and Colin have a lovely homely home right in the city centre and me feel very welcome and at home all weekend. Ruth and Colin cooked BBQ beef fajitas for me along with fancy red wine. Was nice to sit in and catch up with Ruth.

1 March: I woke up to no rain so made the most of the morning and took ferry out to Manley a lovely beach area of Sydney. There were great views of the city, the harbour bridge and the opera house from the ferry. Manley has a pedestrian promenade and a pretty beach. Then headed back to the city for some celeb spotting - Danni Minogue was doing a book signing in one of the big book stores in town so naturally I wanted to go and see a real life aussie celeb! Let's be honest I'm a celeb lover - not a Danni lover. But there were some true fans there. A few women were dressed up in ball gowns with their hair and makeup done. There were loads of gay guys there super excited. The book she was promoting was crap - just pics of her in different dressers and she didn't even say hello to the crowd. But she looked pretty and had a fab dress (her only talents), I got a few pics and I was happy out! After celeb spotting we went to a lovely wine bar for a few sparkling wines before heading to the opera house to watch a show in the Opera House with Ruth and Tracey O'Brien. We went to see Midsummers - a Scottish comedy play with music and it was brilliant. Two actors and both were fantastic as was the singing and music. Was so lovely to be at a show in the Opera house. Thanks Ruth for organising! Myself and Ruth then headed for a few drinks in this cool cowboy and Indians pub where we had peanuts and animal heads covered the walls! There was no name over the bar and the entrance was a garage door and you had to go downstairs to enter the bar. Was very secret and cool!

2 March: After Ruth and Colin left for work, I spent a leisurely morning watching modern family which I have now fallen in love with! After meeting Ruth for a work lunch (where I panicked because I didn't have the appropriate clothes!) I went to the barracks museum where there was a very interesting exhibition on Australians convicts past. After England colonised Australia, they proceeded to send their convicts to Australia as punishment. The convicts were required to work at developing the cities of Australia for the English aristocrats moving to Australia however by all accounts they had quite tough lives being tortured and beaten on a regular basis. One method of torture was the nine tail cat - a nine pronged whip. Inmates would be whipped with this and their pride would not allow them to call out in pain which coined the phrase "Has the cat got your tongue?" There was also an exhibit on the emigration of Irish girls who were brought over from the poor houses during the Irish famine to work as maids to the wealthy English families and as a supply of potential wives for the over male populated land. On the top floor there was a database of all the inhabitants of the prison and yes there were a few Sheridans from Ireland! I spent late afternoon wandering down Oxford Street enjoying the carnival atmosphere before Mardi Gras the following day. The LGBT community were out in force and the array of colours and outfits were fantastic.

Myself and Ruth headed out later on to meet Dave, Cathy, Alan and Lorraine for dinner in a local Thai restaurant. Poor Alan couldn't make it as he was still suffering the after effects from being hit by lightning. It was nice to meet up with another few familiar faces from Kells. They all seem to have been bitten by the Aus bug and are finding it hard to leave! Lovely dinner and company. Later me and Ruth headed to one of the gay bars on oxford street to soak up the Mardi Gras atmosphere.

3 March: I took the bus out to Bondi Beach to meet Hooi who had driven up from Canberra. Was great to see her and we went on a long walk from Bondi Beach over the headlands towards Cogee. The scenery and company was amazing and it even stopped raining for our walk. Hooi then took me on a mini tour of the city showing me her hospital and the centennial park. We departed at lunch time and I met Ruth and Fergus who were doing some last minute outfit shopping for the Mardi Gras party in the costume shops on oxford street. Gold was recurring theme!

Then it was party time! I bought my very classy Sydney cider (with a hint of champagne!) and off we went down to Ruth's friends John's house where there was a party and BBQ. The entire block was having a party and we made our way from apartment to apartment watching the parade and soaking up the Mardi Gras atmosphere - we had the Indian house with shots of tequila, then there was Donals party - a guy I knew from KPMG who had moved to Aus (it's a small world), then there was the Irish guys party who hated aus that was a boring party!). Was a great night catching up with Fergus and Ruth and Colin and everyone else, dancing, drinking and enjoying the atmosphere.

4 March: Hungover brekkie of beans on toast before getting dressed and getting spoiled by Ruth who brought me to High tea in the very fancy Queen Victoria Tea Rooms. It was ridiculously expensive and very posh. Everyone was dressed up in their finery. Lots of ladies lunches and family outings. Naturally we had a choice of teas but we stuck to breakfast tea and some champagne! Tea was served in a sterling silver tea pot and the crockery was matching floral designs. The chef brought out our platter which consisted of sandwiches (cucumber, tuna, egg and ham) and a range of sweet desserts including scones, chocolate cake, fruit cake etc. It looked amazing and we couldn't even finish it all. Was a lovely treat. Thanks Ruth! We then went and met Fergus and went to one of the cinemas that Ruth works for to watch "The Vow." Home and we made chicken curry before watching the Iron lady and heading to bed. I had a lovely time in Sydney and Australia but that was the end of my Australian adventure. Africa next!